Cornell Partners with Bank of America to Create Institute for Women Entrepreneurs

The Bank of America Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship, a joint partnership between the financial services company and Cornell University, will offer free online courses to women starting this Wednesday.

The institute seeks to offer an “unparalleled opportunity for women to earn a certificate in business from this Ivy League university,” according to its website.

The free online program includes six courses for students to “gain the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to build, manage and scale a successful business.”

According to Forbes, Cornell faculty will teach the content and enrollment will be limited to 100 students. Instructors will facilitate discussions in groups of no more than 20 students.

This program has been implemented following the success of eCornell’s Women in Leadership Program that enrolled its thousandth member in March, according to a story previously published by The Sun.

Prof. Deborah Streeter, personal enterprise and small business management, is the director of the Women in Leadership Program which is a five-course certificate program. In a previous interview with The Sun, Streeter said that online program is “extremely private and customized,” which allows women who may not have access to such education and community to acquire practical workplace skills.

In an interview with Forbes, Streeter said the online courses differ in the way they specifically address both internal and external obstacles for women.

According to Forbes, the new institute is aimed at women who are starting for-profit businesses or re-branding current ones. Their goal is to educate 5,000 women in the next 4 years.

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Cornell is among several other higher education institutions in actively meeting the rising academic interest in this field by offering a total of 28 relevant courses — the largest amount among the world’s top 50 universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, beating other Ivy League universities.